News:  September 11-17, 2000

Sunday, September 17, 2000

Polk Audio AMR-50 Review - Mark @ 16:39 EST

Boom Games has posted a very positive review of the Polk Audio AMR-50 2.1 speaker system. The AMR-50 is the entry level ($60 MSRP) system in Polk Audio's new multimedia line. I have not heard the system but based on the system specs and design I suspect that the review may be overly positive in terms of overall performance.

Icewind Dale Review - Mark @ 16:28 EST

Game Rush has posted a brief but positive review of the DS3D with EAX supporting Icewind Dale. When it comes to sound they had the following to offer:

A really great element in Icewind Dale is the music. It’s got a really fantastic orchestral score with really adds to the atmosphere and make a welcome change from the usual cheesy synthesised music that sounds like it’s been knocked up a few days before the game is due to ship. Another welcome improvement on the audio front is digitised speech. Although because of the amount of dialogue in the game all of it couldn’t be dubbed but all the important conversations have been dubbed so the player now knows when they are listening to conversation, which is important to the plot.

Midtown Madness 2 Preview - Mark @ 16:23 EST

Beta Bites has posted a preview of Midtown Madness 2. Not a lot on sound. Here's a snip:

What game would be complete without cool music and great visual effects these days, right? Midtown Madness 2 has both. Amazing detail both on the cars and the surrounding city are yours to behold. You can even see your bumper fall off when you crash, or see the dents and cracked windshields, and smoke pour out of the vehicle. Plus there's a lot of colorful commentary throughout the races from other drivers and pedestrians. There's even amusing quips at the start of each race; the quips are tailored to the vehicle you're driving, and the city you're racing in. The music is entertaining, but if you don't like it, no problem! Midtown Madness 2 allows you to throw your favorite racing music in your CD-ROM, and go tearing through town. Whether you careen through town listening to Bach, or tear it up with some R&B, it's your choice!

Mini-Sound Tweak Guide - Mark @ 16:14 EST

Tweak 3D has posted a mini sound tweak guide. Not a bad piece but still some bits that warrant some comment. First up, the 'sweet spot' for a surround sound, or four-speaker setup really depends on a lot of factors including whether or not there are 4 speaker HRTFs with crosstalk cancellation on the rear channels. While their suggestions of lining up the front and rear by placing the rears higher up may work to enhance the crosstalk cancellation, I think the trade off in terms of where you perceive the rear sound to be coming from may be too great. Bottom line is experiment before you ever mount your speakers. When it comes to subwoofer placement I am not sure why they say the closer to your head the louder other than by the fact that its closer. If you are looking for more or less bass its probably more important to consider placement against a wall or in a corner (to increase bass). I also don't think that high frequency sounds that are within our hearing range are typically considered non-directional. On the topic of digital output and CD-Rom - CD digital audio (across the PCI bus) on Win9x has nothing to do with the model of the CD-ROM as they suggest. For that feature in Win9x you need a program like Windows Media Player 7.0 or the appropriate Winamp plugin. When it comes to enabling the digital audio feature in multimedia properties you need to be using WDM drivers and in that case its possible that older drives won't support it at all.

DVD Hidden Features - Mark @ 11:38 EST

DVD Review has posted an extensive list of DVD Easter Eggs. By easter eggs they mean features that are hidden on some DVDs. I also noticed over at DVD Review that Fox Home Entertainment has announced that they will release a special edition of X-Men to DVD in November and the disc will contain a 16x9 enhanced widescreen transfer with both a Dolby Digital 5.1 channel and a dts audio track (on the same disc).
News Source: Blue's News

The Maganda Piano Sound Font - Mark @ 11:22 EST

Just saw a couple of positive comments in our forum on the Maganda Piano Sound Font which you can grab for free at www.trade-mania.com/piano/. I have not checked it out myself but if you are into MIDI you might want to check it out as the site reports that there is only one day left to get if for free ($10 afterwards).

Covert Ops Goes Gold - Mark @ 08:46 EST

The next title in the Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six line of games, Covert Operations Essentials, has reached gold master status and will be in stores next week. Rainbow Six uses DS3D and Rainbow Six: Rouge Spear makes use of DS3D with EAX 2.0.n While there is no word of what audio APIs they are using in this new game, we can hope that they have maintained their progressive audio support for the playable levels. I say for the playable levels as this new release consists of two very different components. Kevin Perry the executive producer of Covert Ops offers the following description in an interview over at TacSim:

The first is as a simple mission pack. Covert Ops has nine new missions for veterans and novices alike, ranging from simple covert operations training missions (busting a meth lab in a trailer park) to no-holds-barred RAINBOW action (tracking a downed airplane through mountainous jungle terrain under enemy fire). This is a stand-alone CD--the player need not have purchased Rogue Spear or Rainbow Six to play the missions.

The second CD, however, is new to Rainbow Six and unique to the genre. The player, in the guise of a new member of Team RAINBOW, undergoes document and tactical training derived from the most accurate of real-world sources. The player will use actual military documents, executive-level briefings, and dozens of interviews with experts in the field to progress through a series of tests; success in an area earns a ribbon of achievement for the character. The tests themselves can also be turned off and the player can browse at will through more than 250,000 words of exhaustively researched real-world information from the history of the M1911 pistol to the methods commonly used in negotiating with terrorists when hostages are at risk.

Diamond/S3 Audio Products Driver "Updates" - Mark @ 08:16 EST

Kiril 'Dreamer' Georgiev of Savage News sends word of several driver related postings from Diamond/S3. First up are a couple of Windows M compatibility pages (not new drivers) showing what driver versions they recommend for Windows Me and what they have tested. The first page covers their line-up of sound cards and the second page covers their RIO line-up. They have also posted a couple of Audio Manager files with no additional features added from the CD versions as a service for customers who have misplaced or didn't receive their CD. (Seriously, it says "didn't receive" in the readme file!):

Rio Audio Manager version 3.3.067

Nike Audio Manager version 3.3.06C

Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force Reviews - Mikael @ 05:03 EST

3 reviews of the Quake3 engine powered Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force appeared on the net yesterday. All 3 think it's an excellent game where gameplay and especially the graphics aspect of it is great. They also agree that it does an excellent job of creating the Star Trek feel. Gamesdomain had a minor complaint about the game may be too easy for hard core gamers. Here's Avault detailed impression of the sound effects:

Sound FX: Elite Force uses crystal-clear digitized speech and richly textured sounds to immerse players in the “Star Trek” universe. The vocals were recorded using both actors from the show and others, and with a few exceptions, are professional and interesting to listen to -- whoever read Beissman’s lines needs be put on a diet that restricts ham, though. All the TV show’s crew members bring the right nuance to their digital counterparts: Seven of Nine is her monotone, unemotional self; I cringed when Tuvok would rigidly chastise Munro for poor performance; and Captain Janeway issued orders with the right balance of ironhanded urgency and confidence. The dialogue is a constant companion during the missions, warning of assaults with impeccable timing and suggesting solutions to puzzles.

There is one quibble that I hesitate to call a defect because it was done to ensure players would hear the dialogue regardless of their proximity to other characters: It is sometimes difficult to discern the proximity of a character from the sound of their voice. This made the timing on some of the stealth mission sequences uncertain. In one puzzle, Munro had to wait behind a closed door until a humming guard passed, then open it and creep past undetected before he returned; it took me several tries to get it right without being caught because I could not tell where the watchman was.

The audio effects, many of which were pulled from Paramount's own sound library, do a wonderful job of bringing the “Star Trek” universe to life. From the sizzle of the standard issue phaser to the aforementioned whooshing of the sliding doors, the effects are all suitable and sound good in 3D. I suppose I could relate how incredible the ear-splitting explosions and alien battlecries are, but I would rather comment on a more subtle sequence: I exited the conference room following a briefing and heard the other Hazard team members chatting about the upcoming mission, then entered the main corridor and saw another character go into the equipment room -- whoosh! As Munro padded down the hall and slipped through the same door, I heard more people chatting and consoles blipping while being operated. Underneath it all was the calming hum of the starship. Such a simple sequence, but I was struck with how the game’s audio helped me feel as though I were inhabiting this renowned science fiction universe.

According to an early impression of the game at CGO the game only supports A3D (probably 2 or 3) and most likely work with other DS3D cards using the A2D files. Probably with the same issues that Quake3 have out of the box (with later patches it broke the support on Vortex2 cards, at least for most people).
News Source: Voodoo Extreme

Metal Gear Solid interview - Mikael @ 04:40 EST

Gamespy has interviewed Peter Connelly, Program Manager for Metal Gear Solid on the PC, talking about transferring the popular PlayStation title to the PC. Here's the most interesting q&a:

GameSpy: What are the main differences between the PSX and PC versions?

Peter Connelly: Well, there's an extensive list, but here are the main changes.

The PC version that we are releasing is modeled on the Playstation Integral version. Integral was not released here in the US and so PC players will get to experience this version for the first time.

We have enhanced the display and graphics capabilities of the game to really show Snake and his adventures in a totally new light. Users can view the game with 3D acceleration, and resolutions up to 1024 * 768. This greatly enhances the sharpness and clarity of the game.

In one package, we are offering the complete game plus all the VR missions. This allows users immense hours of gameplay opportunity on the PC.

We have included a first-person mode. From launch the user can elect to view and move through the world directly from Snake's viewpoint. This offers another cool game twist for players.

Saving and loading games is now quick and easy, a direct result of being on a PC platform. In addition, there are no more limits to the number of games you can save, as long as you have disk space, you can save as much as you like.

With the camera there is no restriction on the number of game snaps you can save, unless you fill your hard-drive, but that's a lot of snaps!

Fonts have been enhanced to remove the blocky appearance; 3D sound has been included to continue the great atmosphere in the game.

The list goes on, but the main point is that this game provides a wealth of gameplay for our users, both those with previous experience of our hero Snake and new users to this classic game.

Giants preview - Mikael @ 04:34 EST

As part of GamersPulse week long coverage of Giants: Citizen Kabuto they have posted a preview of the game saying it's a must have game. Here's the usual sound snip:

The sound in G: CK is, like the graphics, faultless. Sound effects are solid and unique. From the whine of the sniper rifle to the almost celebratory whistles of the Millennium Mortar the weapon sounds are different enough that you can tell what is going on around you with you eyes closed during combat. The voice over work is exceptional. The Meccs have perfect cockney accents that contrast with the Germanic Sea Reapers, and (I think) Welsh Smarties. ( my English accent-o-meter is rusty these days so forgive me if I am wrong here). Voice over work is only as good as the writing behind the spoken words and G: CK delivers a hilarious, convoluted plot that will have you replaying missions just to see the cut scene one more time.

FrontX Multimedia Ports Review - Mikael @ 04:28 EST

UKGamer.net has posted a very short review of the FrontX Multimedia Ports, a system to relocate your sound card inputs such as gameport, microphone and line-in to the front of the PC. They were impressed with the system and the only complaint was that it doesn't look as good as the much more expensive and more well featured Live!Drive. One flaw with the FrontX Multimedia ports is that the auto mute feature offered for the headphone input only mutes the front channels as the rear channels are not fed through the system. Still pretty handy for line in and microphone connections though.
News Source: Blue's News

Baldur's Gate II preview - Mikael @ 04:19 EST

Sorcerers.net has posted a short preview of Baldur's Gate II where they compare it with the original Baldur's Gate. They think it's pretty similar but better. Here's the sound bit:

Sounds and music remain excellent, with some really good voice actors providing the speech for your NPCs and your main character. Even Jaheira seems to have been toned down a bit, an improvement that definitely will not go unnoticed by us who endured her through the whole game once before. ;)

Half-Life PaintBall Beta - Mikael @ 04:00 EST

A final beta of the Half-Life mod PaintBall has been released. They say they are completely changing everything about the multiplayer aspect of it, giving the game a whole new type of feel, and providing the paintball fans a truly realistic experience.
News Source: 3Dfiles

Saturday, September 16, 2000

Apogee Technology, Inc. Listed on Nasdaq OTC-BB - Mark @ 09:58 EST

Apogee Technology, Inc.'s application on Form 10-SB to register its Common Stock, under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, was approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 29, 2000 and its Common Stock began trading on September 12, 2000 on the NASDAQ OTC-BB under the stock symbol "APGT". The Company initiated this registration to ensure that investors have current information about the Company and to support the commercialization of its patented amplifier technology, trademarked Direct Digital Amplification (DDX(R)). DDX is an all-digital, high efficiency amplifier technology, which enables for the first time pure digital sound reproduction in applications such as PC multimedia, MP3 playback systems, communication systems and car and home audio products. The Form 10-SB registration statement indicated that the Company plans to commercialize its unique technology by licensing DDX to semiconductor and audio manufacturers as well as by developing and marketing DDX semiconductor devices and amplifier board products. The Company disclosed that it had licensed DDX technology on a non-exclusive basis to ALST Technical Excellence Center to develop integrated semiconductor products for the computer, consumer electronics, automotive and communications markets. ALST is a strategic partnership between Altec Lansing, a world leader in high performance PC speaker systems, and STMicroelectronics, a global independent semiconductor company. The Company also disclosed that it has completed engineering samples of its first semiconductor products and expects to have production quantities available by the end of the fourth quarter of this year. For more details check out the full press release.

Fox Interactive Announces NOLF Music Contest - Mark @ 09:55 EST

Fox Interactive and Indiespace.com are giving unsigned bands the chance of a lifetime. Lucky musicians 18 years old and over can upload MP3s, or mail in CDs of their original '60s inspired music. New and original '60s inspired music may be chosen for a special bonus disc for the worldwide release of Fox's PC CD-ROM game, No One Lives Forever. Music must be uploaded before September 28th, or postmarked on or before September 25, 2000. For more details check out the full press release.
News Source: Blue's News

Counter Strike 7.1 Released - Mark @ 09:03 EST

Counter Strike 7.1 has been released and addresses a number of issues with the prior release. If you have not played Counter Strike yet, it's a wildly popular mod for the A3D 2.0 with wavetracing and DS3D with EAX supporting Half-Life. The MOD is team-based featuring one team playing the role of the terrorist and the other team playing the role of the counter-terrorist. Each side has access to different guns and equipment, as well as different abilities. Maps have different goals such as: hostage rescue, assassination, bomb defusion, Terrorist escape, etc. The download is not small..if it's your first version you are looking at 70.1 MB. If you are updating from 7.0 it's just 3.1 MB. Grab either version from 3Dfiles where you can also read the list of fixes. If never did check out 7.0 and it will be interesting to see if this version fixed the small audio bug that was introduced a couple of versions ago. Specifically, to get thing working correctly most people had to unselect and immediately reselect the audio mode in the configuration options each time they started the game.

VXI Corporation Introduces More USB Headsets - Mark @ 08:50 EST

VXI Corporation has announced and shipped, Aruba and Caribbean, the latest in a series of fully functional Universal Serial Bus (USB) Digital microphone systems. The two new Parrott headset systems employ the same cutting-edge technology as that of the highly successful VXI Parrott line of speech recognition headsets, thus bringing the same level of voice clarity to the USB Port. The Aruba and Caribbean join the previously announced Jamaica USB Headset, giving VXI a complete line of USB headset offerings. For a list of features, pricing and more details check out the full press release.

Friday, September 15, 2000

CeBIT bans MP3s, Creative boycotts Cebit - Mikael @ 13:28 EST

According to ZDnet story posted earlier this week Creative's manager Murat Uenol said Creative won't take part at CeBIT in Hannover, Germany since the show has banned all MP3-related exhibits, both music and players. Instead, the company will show up on the Internationale Funkaustellung in Berlin in August.
News Source: Ga-Hardware

Rio 500 MP3 Player review - Mikael @ 13:22 EST

PCinsight has posted a rather detailed review of Diamond's Rio 500 MP3 Player. The Rio 500 includes the features you expect from a second generation MP3 player including USB port, 64 MB memory (expandable to 128MB according to this review), upgradeable firmware (allows it to support other formats than MP3s in the future, not mentioned in this review btw), back lit LCD display, supports the audible format, equalizer presets, custom bass and treble. The review thinks this is an excellent player except for the included ear buds. They compare the sound quality to a portable CD player and a MiniDisk player. Most if not all other reviews I've seen also found the Rio 500 to be a good player but some have complained about the software which this review considers excellent.
News Source: Anandtech

Interview with Icewind Dale composer - Mikael @ 13:03 EST

The second day of RPGDOT's RPG music coverage they have posted an interview with composer Jeremy Soule. He recently worked on the Icewind Dale sound track that have got excellent reviews. At the end of the review you can download an MP3 that feature a piece from the Icewind Dale soundtrack CD.
News Source: Blue's News

FAKK 2 reviews - Mikael @ 12:56 EST

Electric Games has posted their impressions of Heavy Metal FAKK2. They complained quite a bit about bugs, poor user interface and that the game is too short but overall they still think it's a good game. The complaint about being too short is mentioned in almost every review. They had no issues with the sound effects:

Sound effects are very good, and the voice acting is way above average. Since this title bears the Heavy Metal name, it is expected that the music be top-notch, and it is. Everything from hard-driving rock to incidental music is included, and it all sounds great.

Grand Prix 3 review - Mikael @ 09:36 EST

Computer Games Onlines has posted a short review of the 3D sound supporting Grand Prix. They have a rather mixed impression of the game with several complaints but thanks to great game play it still give it a top rating of 4.5 out of 5. The sound impression was also mixed:

Engine sounds are very well done, so well in fact that you can time your shifts by sound alone, eliminating the need to take your eyes off the track to view your RPM display. Crash sounds have a realistic, weighty feel while skids and driving over curbing are properly queued. Sadly, that’s about it for sounds. Your crew chief is silent, your opponent’s engines are silent, and the crowds are silent. Pit/race information is conveyed by text displayed at the top of your screen.

Thief 2 review - Mikael @ 09:28 EST

3DGame Forces has posted their review of Thief 2. They had some complaints about the graphics, performance and the story but in the end they think it's a good game. Just like all other reviews I've read they think the sound design is good:

The sound in this game is quite good, and the music goes along with the game really well. What I like is that everything in this game makes a sound, so you can hear everyone walking around and you can hear if someone is coming towards you or from behind you. This is really useful if you have surround sound speakers and a sound card capable of using 3D effects. In fact I would recommend that you play the game using a surround sound speaker system. I used the FPS 1000 by Cambridge Sound Works in my testing.

Sound 'n' music in Dreamland - Mark @ 09:24 EST

Daily Telefrag has posted a Q & A with Garry Taylor who is responsible for sound and music in Dreamland Chronicles: The Freedom Ridge. Here's a taste:

Tolstiy: Now let us speak specifically about Dreamland. Will there be correspondence between music and the action that takes place on the screen? (I.e. when you’re working in the ruins of a town at night, where aliens are just waiting to kill you and meanwhile an ambient scary music playing off-screen).

Garry Taylor: I took the decision not to use _completely_ interactive music for Dreamland, although there is quite a bit of interactivity as far as playlists and such. The technology for interactive music is still in it's infancy at the moment, and I felt I should wait a while for it to 'grow up'. That's not to say that the technology is bad; quite the reverse; but I wanted something I could do once, then quickly convert it to both PC and Playstation2 without too many problems. The ambient music in the tactical scenarios is dark and threatening. It should put the player on edge, but without distracting the player too much.

SB Live! and Vienna Sound Font Studio - Mark @ 09:07 EST

Future Looks has posted an article that takes a look at using Vienna Sound Font Studio to make Sound Font banks for the Sound Blaster Live. It's a nicely done piece worth checking out if you like to play with the MIDI features of your Sound Blaster Live.

InterVideo Introduces Linux Software DVD Player - Mikael @ 07:38 EST

InterVideo, Inc. has taken the wraps off its Linux software DVD player. At the Linux World tradeshow in Taipei (Sep 7-9, 2000), InterVideo demonstrated fully functional platforms using LinDVD, demonstrating high quality video running at the full video frame rate with integrated CSS copy protection. LinDVD is now available to manufacturers for evaluation and integration. You can find more details in the press release

Interview about Escape from Monkey Island - Mikael @ 07:29 EST

NextGame.it has asked the team behind Escape from Monkey Island a bunch of questions. A great read for all fans of this Adventure game series. Here's an interesting bit about 3D sound and EAX:

Nextgame.it: LucasArts has always been looking for the technical quality of its games. Apart from graphics, what was amazing in the past was the way the musical scores were so deeply "in tune" with action. Thanks to iMuse and other technologies, but also to the great composers that created the music. Do you think new technologies as EAX, A3D can be useful even in adventure games? And since adventure games are more static that action games, do you think one day we are going to hear Dolby Digital or DTS multichannel soundtrack (maybe on a THX-certified Home Theatre set!) in adventure games?

EMI Team: Sure, those things can be very useful. Any enhancement that makes the game feel bigger or more alive is applicable to any style game.
Adventure games especially can utilize those ideas to create a more immersive feel as they tend to have much more elaborate locations and characters. THX in a game? That'd be great

Interview with David Arkenstone, Composer - Mikael @ 07:21 EST

RPGDOT has interviewed Composer, David Arkenstone. He has written music for Lands Of Lore 2 + 3 and Blade Runner.
News Source: Voodoo Extreme

Pro Rally 2001 Q/A - Mikael @ 07:17 EST

Beyond 3D has posted an interview done by Ubisoft with David Darnes, Project Manager for the Pro Rally 2001 game. Here's the sound bit:

For the sounds, Pro-Rally 2001 innovates with the latest techniques in 3D and ambience sounds. All engine sounds were taken from real Rally cars, making thus the quality of these samples doubtless. For the music, which changes every time you race in a random way, are original compositions composed by great musicians. Obviously, the sounds change depending on the view, state of the weather, damage of the car or distance to the different sound sources.

DigiTheatre DTS review - Mikael @ 07:10 EST

Tech Extreme has posted a review of VideoLogic's DigiTheatre DTS system. It's a detailed review that offers plenty of details on how it compares to VideoLogic's original DigiTheatre system. The review also includes an interesting bit where 3 people in blind tests offer their opinion on the AC3 and DTS soundtrack for several movies.

Thursday, September 14, 2000

More on Philips New Sound Cards - Mark @ 14:29 EST

Some additional details to offer on the new line of Philips sound cards thanks to the latest press release. In addition to what we posted earlier today we can confirm that the Acoustic Edge sound card is powered by Philips Semiconductors' Thunderbird Avenger - SAA7785 PCI audio chip. The Rhythmic Edge and Seismic Edge are both powered by Philips Semiconductors' Thunderbird Q3D - SAA7780 PCI audio chip. The other bit is that that in addition to the APIs support by current cards using QSound's audio technology, the new Philips cards will offer EAX 2.0 and I3DL2 support. For all the details you can check out the press release from Philips and the press release from QSound.

The Fallen Voices - Mark @ 14:09 EST

GA-Source reports that that stars of the show Star Trek: Deep Space Nine will be lending their voices to the forthcoming action game, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - The Fallen. The Collective, developers of "The Fallen," will be using a new technology to sync the character's mouth, eyes, nose and eyebrows in real time. According to reports we have seen the game, which is scheduled to ship in October, should also support both A3D 2.0 and DS3D with EAX. You can get more details on the game at the official site

Voyetra Turtle Beach Windows Me Drivers - Mark @ 13:56 EST

To coincide with official release of Windows Me Turtle Beach has posted Windows Me drivers for their new Santa Cruz sound card. You can grab the drivers from their download page. You can also read more about the release of Windows ME in an article over at C/Net news that aims to answer the question "Is Windows Me for you?"

Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn Goes Gold! - Mark @ 13:46 EST

Black Isle Studios, the role-playing game division of Interplay Entertainment Corp. have announced that their sequel to the award winning Baldur's Gate entitled Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn has gone gold and is scheduled to begin shipping to retail on September 26th. The official FAQ indicates that the game should have 3D sound, most likely both DS3D and EAX and A3D. I think that the EAX support may even be EAX 2.0. You can check out more on the audio in this game via an interview with Dave Chan of Bioware who worked audio for Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn over at Creative Lab's EAX site.

Compaq iPaq Personal Audio Player PA-1 - Mikael @ 12:42 EST

CNet.com has also checked out Compaq's new MP3/Digital Audio Player, iPaq Personal Audio Player PA-1. No editor's choice for this one but they think it's a pretty good with a fast USB interface, 64MB memory, very small size, tweak the bass and treble, LCD display, good sound quality and support for MP3, WMA and AAC files. They complain a bit about short battery life (7-8 hours) and lack of features such as FM tuner, rechargeable batteries, PDA functionality and voice recording but considering the size and price ($280) they consider it a viable contender.

D'Music SM-200C review - Mikael @ 12:31 EST

CNet.com has posted a short review of Pine Technology D'Music SM-200C Metallic Blue. It's a portable CD player that can play MP3s. Other than that it couldn't play CD-Rs burnt faster than 2x they think it's pretty good, much better than Genica MP3 CD player that didn't even support the ID3 tags. Other features includes intro mode and five EQ settings. Thanks to the ID3 tags support, bundled rechargeable batteries, good sound quality and the $200 price tag Cnet gave it their Editor's Choice award.

Aureal rumors @ Vortex of Sound - Mikael @ 12:21 EST

Vortex of Sound news page has been updated again with some rumors about what will happen with Aureal. According to their sources it currently looks like Creative will buy what's left of Aureal but some of the creditors may file a petition with the court to block the sale. They also mention that Aureal currently has just 2 employees as of the end of last month. A bit more positive news item is that Vortex of Sound may soon release the last Vortex 2 WDM driver build they recently received.

Icewind Dale vs. Diablo 2 - Mark @ 07:30 EST

PC Game Review has posted a spotlight article comparing Diablo 2 and Icewind Dale. The article includes a full section on sound. When it comes to Diablo 2 they were not very impressed with anything to do with sound including 3D sound or EAX support. Checking past reviews we see some are impressed with the 3D sound and/or EAX effects and some not and I wonder if it comes down to whether or not they are using a card with EAX 2.0 support when it comes to EAX comments and with respect to 3D sound, if its the top down nature of the game. When it comes to Icewind Dale they are more impressed and give it the overall edge but still did not think it made much of a difference. For lots more check out the detailed article.

It's A Shame About MP3.com - Mark @ 07:04 EST

That's the title of an editorial posted over at ZD Net Interactive Week Online. Here's a taste:

MP3.com went from a brilliant, but flawed critic of the music industry to a dumb music pipe for the record labels practically overnight. It's a shame. Blame CEO Michael Robertson's hubris. But blame the music industry too. Robertson revealed this week that he is still trying to work out a settlement of some sort with the Universal music label, which last week scored a staggering victory over MP3. A judge ruled that the online music service would have to pay a whopping $25,000 fee to Universal for each copyright infringement - a judgment that could end up somewhere in the neighborhood of $118 to $250 million. Now another outfit, Zomba recording, of Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears fame, is also suing MP3.com. We'll have to wait and see how much flesh they extract, but one wonders how much cashing in by the record labels the online music service can take.

The Smashing Pumpkins Direct to Online - Mark @ 07:00 EST

Alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins released what is being called its final album on vinyl and the MP3 format last week, forgoing a CD release through its record label, Virgin Records, according to postings on the band's Web site and published reports. The 25-song album, titled "Machina II: The Friends and Enemies of Modern Music," is being downloaded by fans via Napster and various Web sites highlighted on the message boards at The Smashing Pumpkins' Web site. According to a frequently asked question posting on the band's Web site, just 25 vinyl copies of the album were released. Sonicnet.com reported that a note included with the albums stated that "Machina II" was released on vinyl as a "final f--- you to a record label that didn't give (The Pumpkins) the support they deserved." The note also stated: "Just to clear up any possible confusion, this is the final album from the band. There are 25 copies. There will not be a CD pressing." The release was first reported by The Drudge Report and later by MTV. According to C/Net where you check out the whole report, representatives for The Smashing Pumpkins and Virgin Records were not immediately available to comment.

Diablo II MP3 of the week - Mikael @ 02:09 EST

Blizzard has released a new Diablo II MP3 of the week
News Source: Blue's News

Philips New Sound Cards Feature QSound Technology - Mark @ 00:43 EST

In the first of series of announcements that we have been anticipating QSound Labs has announced that Philips, one of the world's largest electronics companies, has featured QSound technology in three new sound cards set to launch this fall. The new sound cards are Rhythmic Edge (2 channel), Seismic Edge (4 channel) and Acoustic Edge (6 channel). Rhythmic Edge and Seismic Edge are scheduled to launch this month at $49.99 and $79.99 respectively and the Acoustic Edge to launch in November 2000 for $99.99.

All three soundcards utilize QSound Labs' technology in conjunction with Philips' ThunderBird Digital Signal Processors. FYI Phillips took over VLSI (Thunderbird). The Thunderbird Q3D will be in the first two cards described. The third card (Acoustic Edge) I believe will be using Phillips' new design call the Thunderbird Avenger (covered in a June press release) and according to the announcement it will be the industry's first PCI audio accelerator enabling 5.1-channel playback of games, music and movies.

Now there are cards out with 5.1 analog output but the key is they are not fully utilized for games, music AND movies. Specifically, the FM801 based cards like the Best Data Theatrix and Skywell Magic Sound Live (also QSound 3D audio technology) and the new Santa Cruz / Sonic Fury which is using a Cirrus Logic design with Sensaura's 3D audio technology. In the case of the FM801 cards, 5.1 output is utilized for DVD audio and games, but not music and with the Santa Cruz / Sonic Fury the 5.1 output is utilized for DVD audio and a virtual 5.1 is applied for games and music, but it's currently not a very complex virtualization. Future drivers for the Santa Cruz / Sonic Fury should bring full 5.1 support for games. It will be interesting to hear QSound 5.1 music virtualization especially since I found the virtualization on the Thunderbird 128 using Aztec368DSP to be very effective.

Getting back to the Acoustic Edge, the release also notes that the card will offer comprehensive analog and digital connections. For additional details check out the full press release. We expect to have more information on these products over the next few days. Thanks to Dscbsn for sending us a copy of the release.

Creative's New CD-RW 12-10-32 Offers Burn-Proof Technology - Mark @ 00:10 EST

Creative Technology Ltd. has announced the CD-RW Blaster® 12-10-32, currently shipping to online and retail outlets in North America at an estimated street price of US$299. With a maximum CD-R writing speed of 12X, a top CD-RW writing speed of 10X, and a CD-ROM reading speed up to 32X, the CD-RW Blaster 12-10-32 serves as a comprehensive CD creator for the digital audio enthusiast who wishes to store personalized music compilations. The drive also features new BURN-Proof technology, licensed from Sanyo. The technology apparently curbs buffer underrun, or insufficient delivery of data to the drive from the PC. For additional details you can check out the full press release.

Media Jukebox now provides QSound’s Qmp3D 3D Sound Technology - Mark @ 00:04 EST

J. River has announced an agreement with QSound Labs to offer the Qmp3D sound management plug-in to Media Jukebox users. Qmp3D creates a virtual surround sound field by stretching the sound beyond the physical location of the speakers. Qmp3D includes QBass, an adjustable bass boost enhancement feature, and QVerb, which lets users select stadium, club or cathedral listening environments. Media Jukebox organizes and plays all the popular music formats, including mp3, Real Media, MusicEx, QuickTime, Audible, Microsoft Windows Media and LiquidAudio. Version 5.0 is available for free download from www.musicex.com and the free Qmp3D demo is available at www.musicex.com/mediajukebox/plugins.html. A registered version of Qmp3D can be purchased for $10.95. For some additional details and quotes check out the full press release. For more on QSound's audio technology you can check out our QSound 3D Audio article.

Wednesday, September 13, 2000

Microsoft Acquires MongoMusic - Mark @ 23:56 EST

Microsoft has announced the acquisition of MongoMusic Inc., a leading innovator in digital music infrastructure noted for its strong collaborative approach with record labels and artists. This acquisition will be a significant addition to the MSN network of Internet services' efforts to provide compelling digital media content. For details on MongoMusic and some quotes from both parties you can check out the full press release. You can also get additional analysis of the deal over at C/Net News. Although the terms of the transaction were not disclosed today, sources close to the deal previously told CNET News.com that Microsoft would pay about $65 million in an all-stock transaction.

SRS Labs' TruSurround in Toshiba's New Broadcast Satellite Digital HD TVs and Tuner - Mark @ 23:52 EST

SRS Labs, Inc. has announced that Toshiba has licensed TruSurround by SRS for use in two new digital televisions and a digital tuner compatible with all Broadcast Satellite (BS) digital signals -- the world's first digital TV equipped with SRS Labs' TruSurround technology. For lots more detail, check out the full press release.

Akoo.com Introduces Kima, New Wireless Internet Audio Appliance - Mark @ 23:45 EST

Akoo.com has introduced Kima, a new appliance that allows consumers to wirelessly access Internet audio on any stereo or portable radio up to 1,000 feet away.
Ideal for listening to Internet radio, MP3 files and digital music away from one's computer, Kima is available for purchase at www.akoo.com/kima. Kima is comprised of two units. A base unit connects to a PC's sound card, or any audio source such as a satellite dish, and wirelessly sends the audio signal up to 1,000 feet away to a receiving unit using akoo.com's patent-pending technology. The receiving unit is placed eight to 10 feet from any stereo or portable radio and sends the audio signal to one of two available FM frequencies. The receiving unit also can be connected to a stereo's auxiliary input. A remote control unit for the Kima will be introduced by the first quarter of 2001. For additional details check out the full press release.

Industry's First 32-Bit, 6.1-Channel MPEG AAC Decoder from Analog Devices - Mark @ 23:39 EST

Analog Devices, Inc. has announced the industry's first 32-bit decoder for MPEG Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), the latest audio coding format standardized by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) as part of the MPEG specification. The new Melody MPEG decoder also simultaneously post-processes THX Surround EX and HDCD, and additionally decodes MP3, DTS-ES Extended Surround, Dolby Digital, Dolby Pro Logic, or Dolby Headphone. It is the first AAC decoder to handle all of these audio formats, the first 32-bit MPEG AAC decoder, and the first to provide 6.1 channels. The Melody decoder/post-processor is based on a 32-bit floating-point programmable SHARC DSP. As part of the Melody family, the new decoder will enable future A/V receivers, PC audio cards and set-top boxes to process-in the same product-all of the leading audio algorithms. For some additional detail and a couple of quotes check out the full press release.

Turtle Beach Santa Cruz in Dell PCs - Mark @ 23:31 EST

The Turtle Beach Santa Cruz audio accelerator has been designated by Dell Computer as a sound upgrade for various Dell product lines. This further expands Voyetra Turtle Beach's relationship with Dell, which currently offers the Turtle Beach Montego II sound card to its customers. For lots more on the deal with Dell and the card you can check out the full press release. We plan to have our review of the Santa Cruz and Sonic Fury posted by Monday or Tuesday next week.

Carmageddon TDR 2k Review - Mark @ 23:20 EST

XLGaming has posted a review of Carmageddon TDR 2k. They had the following short bit to offer on sound.

Sound wise things are also quite good with tunes donated by Utah Saints and Plague. The other cars in the game hurl abuse at you and the zombies moan convincingly. Not that I know how a zombie moans seeing as I’ve never actually encountered one, but you know what I mean

Soulbringer Review - Mark @ 23:13 EST

Gamer's Pulse has posted a review of the 3D sound supporting Soulbringer. They really enjoyed the game to the point of not wanting to quit playing long enough to write the review. When it comes to audio the had the following to offer.

The music is well done and appropriately atmospheric for the settings. The voices, however, are a little...well...cheesy. It seems someone decided that everyone should affect British accents, and some don't sound quite right coming from the faces of the characters in the game.
EAX 3D sound is available, too, and it works properly. I could track a running brigand just by the perceived direction of his footfalls.

Q3 JailBreak v1.0 - Mikael @ 16:00 EST

Quake 3 JailBreak v1.0 has been released. Jailbreak is a Teamplay MOD for Quake 3 Arena. You can find more info and download links at the official site
News Source: Voodoo Extreme

PDV-2000 Portable DVD-Player Review - Mark @ 07:38 EST

Firing Squad has posted a review of the PDV-2000 portable DVD-Player. Here's a snip from the intro:

Compared to other portable DVD players on the market, the Afreey is one of the lowest priced. Other portable players can cost well over a $1000 and close to $1500. This difference pays for a larger screen and thinner form factor. Functionally, these units are very similar, although the Afreey is the only portable player that I know of that will also play MP3 CD-Rs and CD-RWs.

Blair Witch Vol. 1 has gone gold - Mikael @ 02:30 EST

The Spookhouse reports that the ring of Developers Blair Witch Volume 1: Rustin Parr has gone gold and will be in stores on September 27. For more about the game visit Spookhouse and for some audio bits check out our previous news reports on the game
News Source: Voodoo Extreme

Echelon demo released (updated) - Mikael @ 02:26 EST

Update: According to Blues the demo is an old version of the Storm demo (the old name of the game) released in April '99. So no point to download this one. A demo of Bethesda's "3D turbocharged, adrenaline pumping combat flight sim" Echelon has been released. You can find download links along with a description of the game at 3dfiles. The official Echelon site's feature page mentions 3D sound and a recent preview had the following bit on the sound:

Combat is fast-paced and pounding. You will be fighting enemy pilots in the air and on the ground. As you complete each mission in a campaign, you'll rise up through the ranks, taking on more responsibility and tougher missions. With some missions you will be the one planning and directing the attack.
[snip]
Sound has not been neglected in this game either. Not only do you hear gun fire, explosions and the computer, but you hear the little touches. Stop firing for a moment, and you will hear cooling rushing into your cannons. Hover over water for a moment, then hit full thrust, you will hear the sound of water being thrusted away. All of this is done in 3D sound as well.

Deep Space Nine: The Fallen MP3s - Mikael @ 02:22 EST

A couple new MP3s for the Unreal engine powered 3D sound supporting Deep Space Nine: The Fallen has been released.
News Source: Voodoo Extreme

Crimson Skies Goes Gold - Mikael @ 02:17 EST

Zipper’s new air combat action game for the PC, Crimson Skies, has gone gold. It's expected to be available in stores later this month. Here's a bit on the audio from a preview of the game posted on Avault:

As for the audio, there is an extra emphasis on this oft-neglected element by the designers. Crimson Skies supports not only 3D sound to help users locate the position and distance of various objects that are in the game environment, but also surround sound used in cinematic clips and in-game audio to enhance and expand the sonic environment by using Dolby Pro Logic compatible systems. Surprisingly, Weisman's favorite element is the sound, "The audio is what makes this game come alive -- I don't think there's anything cooler than hearing your copilot give you an all clear over the radio as you dive through a zeppelin hangar, bail out and see your chute open, land next to the experimental aircraft, hear its nitro-boosted engine roar to life as you throttle up, taxi out of the hangar, and take off while the local ace spews threats at you over the radio and shells from his 50 caliber cannons whiz past your cockpit just as the swing music kicks in."

Next-Generation Unreal Engine Audio News - Mikael @ 02:13 EST

3DAI got the following info from Epic's Tim Sweeney about their plans for 3D audio in the next major revision of the Unreal engine:

"In the future we'll go pure DirectSound / DirectSound3D."

Then I followed up to ask if the 3rd party developers are going to add A3D/EAX and here is what he said:

"Aureal is dead. A3D is obsolete. Move on. :)

Microsoft and Creative partnered together to assimilate EAX into the DirectX8 spec, so when I refer to DirectSound3D, I'm referring to DirectX8 which includes The Extensions Formerly Known as EAX."

Tuesday, September 12, 2000

Another Turtle Beach Santa Cruz Review - Mark @ 22:56 EST

Computer Games Online has posted their review of Turtle Beach's Santa Cruz sound card. First off, I completely disagree with their statement that Aureal and Creative were the only ones offering good quality sound cards with good 3D sound on the market before the release of the Santa Cruz. Another odd comment is they say that some of the best 3D sound in games today uses the more advanced A3D 2.0 standard which the card does not support. I am not sure what new games they are playing that either make good use of A3D 2.0 or use it exclusively and that scenario is certainly not going to get better, so I really don't think that's a big concern. Finally, it's possible that their complaints about 3D sound quality are really about the EAX 2.0 issues caused by the cards shipping drivers as Sensaura's 3D sound is excellent when properly implemented. As we have noted before, Turtle Beach plans to release drivers addressing these problems by the end of this week. If the issues are addressed it will certainly be a card worth checking out and in the end CGO also concludes that the card is a good option and awards it a 4/5. For a much more detailed review of the card you can check out the GamePC review below. Look for our own review of both the Santa Cruz and SonicFury either late this week or more likely on Monday or Tuesday next week.

Turtle Beach Santa Cruz review - Mikael @ 15:18 EST

GamePC has posted a detailed review of Turtle Beach Santa Cruz. It's the best review of the Santa Cruz I've read to date and the first that notes some EAX issues. Overall it's a very positive review. We had EAX 2.0 issues that goes beyond crashing but as the review notes it should be fixed in the next driver release. We hope to get the review out towards the end of the week but quite possible it won't be until Monday or Tuesday night next week.
News Source: Our Forum

Nike and S3 Ship PSA/Play 120 Digital Audio Player - Mikael @ 15:10 EST

Nike and S3®'s Rio Division have shipped the Nike PSA/Play 120, a portable, ergonomically designed digital audio player geared toward fitness enthusiasts. The player features Ergonomic Design, Sightless Control Embedded, Expandable Memory (64MB built in), Remote Control and supports the Windows Media (WMA) and MP3 formats.

The Nike PSA Play[60 will be available soon after the release of the Nike PSA/Play 120. This entry-level sports and fitness player comes with 32 MB of memory. The Nike PSA/Play 120 shipped to North American retail outlets with a suggested retail price of $299.95. The Nike PSA/Play 60 has a suggested retail price of $199.95. You can find more details in the press release

Cirrus Logic Shoots Past Millionth Maverick Milestone - Mikael @ 15:02 EST

Cirrus Logic has announced that after only six months of production, it shipped its millionth Maverick(tm) processor. Maverick chips are designed into a variety of Internet entertainment devices including the leading portable Internet audio players, network-based home players, digital car audio players, eBooks, Web-based entertainment and Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs). It currently powers two of the top three portable digital music players, the S3 Diamond Multi-Media Rio 600 and Creative Labs' Nomad II family. According to Mike Paxton, senior analyst for Cahners In-Stat Group. Creative and S3 Diamond Rio account for 60 percent of all worldwide shipments. You can find more details in the press release

Tour Combat Industry Efforts to Displace MP3 - Mikael @ 14:54 EST

Bruce Fries and Marty Fries, authors of ``The MP3 and Internet Audio Handbook,'' have announced that they after visiting 75 cities this spring have extended their tour to 100 cities where they teach consumers about the benefits of online music and the MP3 encoding format. It's intended to counter the efforts of the recording industry to displace MP3 with SDMI-compliant formats. They claim the SDMI formats eliminate the portability and convenience that make formats like MP3 so popular. You can find more info in the press release

MP3.COM's CEO Speaks on MP3.com's Present and Future - Mikael @ 14:33 EST

MP3.COM has issued a statement intended to clarify a number of questions received from the media, stockholders, prospective investors, advertisers, vendors and others interested in the future growth and development of MP3.com. If you are interested you can read the full statement here

Ultra Coaster review - Mikael @ 12:58 EST

Avault has posted a review of construction simulation Ultra Coaster. I think this is the first review of the game I've read, it's at least the first review that mentioned 3D sound. Here's a bit that should give you idea what it's all about:

Ultra Coaster is an inexpensive, no-frills 3D construction simulation of roller coasters from a company which strives to capture the essence of what makes these rides really fun. While the other recently released simulations reproduce not only the coasters but also most of the other aspects of amusement parks, including the people, vendor booths, and other kinds of attractions, Ultra Coaster focuses exclusively on just the roller coasters themselves. While most of these other offerings give you specified objectives to achieve with limited resources and occasionally time pressure as well, Ultra Coaster is completely free-form with no limits on the tools or time at your disposal, so you can immediately create, or watch and operate, huge and detailed roller coasters to your heart's content.

Submarine Titans review - Mikael @ 12:51 EST

GameRaiders share their impressions of the 3D sound supporting RTS, submarine Titans. They think it's good but not excellent game, falling a bit behind some of the best RTS games they've played. Here's the usual sound bit:

The sound effects for Sub Titans were impressive. I actually liked the soundtrack to this game, which is a rare thing. The audio technology did a great job of getting me into the game, and it helped keep me interested in the game. Submarine Titans sound technology was good.

FAKK2 Reviews - Mark @ 12:49 EST

A couple of new reviews for you of what I think is an aurally excellent game - namely FAKK2. First up is one from the Game Den. Overall they liked the game but complained of long load times, sticky controls and the common "too short". When it comes to sound they were impressed siting in the pros of the game and also offering the following:

You’ll certainly grab an earful when assuming the saddles of Julie and her exploits. The audio effects uses a varying degree of musical blends to properly set the mood or tune during phases of the game. At early stages of the quest, I was immersed into the playing of mellow tunes as the tranquil environment was being shown off. Even the weapons sound true to their form in relation to their special firing abilities. From the flaring of rockets to the animals in the street, everything sounded just right.

AW744 Driver Update - Mark @ 07:42 EST

I installed the Asus AW744 drivers last night and tried them on a Hoontech Digital XG board confirming that they are likely fully functional with any YMF744 based board. As Mikael noted yesterday, you get same Sensaura code that is in the latest MX400 drivers and the drivers that should have shipped with the Santa Cruz/Sonic Fury. For one that means an improved reverb engine. In addition, Asus has added a bunch of commonly accessed system properties to the system tray applet as well as a speaker test option. On the down side, both Aureal's Minerva test program and Drakan's audio configuration screen report that the drivers support 16 DS3D streams where as the 2013 drivers support 32 DS3D streams. It did not notice any immediate impact of just 16 streams and 16 is not bad in it self. However, 32 is nice to have in the event that the action gets heavy when it can make a difference. I am not sure if this is something Asus did on their own but I doubt it given that the latest reference drivers released by Yamaha (4.07.1040) only support 8 3D streams with no 4 speaker support. It's also worth noting that Asus lists these drivers as beta. Overall I think I would still recommend that you check the 2018s out but keep your 2013s handy in the event you find 16 3D streams to limiting. Worth noting that the Vortex2 doesn't really support more than 16 3D streams either and never heard anyone complain about it so far.

Videologic DigiTheatre 5.1 review - Mikael @ 00:51 EST

TechExtreme has posted a detailed review of VideoLogic's DigiTheatre 5.1 system. They found it to be an excellent performer with the only flaw being that it distorts when you start to approach the max volume. You can check out our review for a second opinion and a more detailed description of how it can be used as a gaming system.

Warner Music Group Launches Major Digital Music Initiative - Mikael @ 00:17 EST

Warner Music Group has announced plans to offer one of the industry's largest collections of music via digital distribution, beginning in November, 2000. At launch, the downloads will include current singles and exclusive Internet-only tracks from such artists as Barenaked Ladies, Collective Soul, and Olga Tanon, expanding shortly thereafter to offer more than 1,000 digitized albums and singles from superstar artists including Tori Amos, Bjork, Genesis, Madonna, R.E.M. and Neil Young.

WMG is working with RealNetworks to develop a platform-neutral infrastructure that will make the downloads available to consumers in the U.S. and Canada via online retailers. The digital download infrastructure is designed to support several popular playback formats endorsed by the music industry. You can find more details in the press release. You can also check out this News.com story for even more info and some analysis.

Monday, September 11, 2000

Superbike 2001 Demo - Mikael @ 23:06 EST

Featuring new bikes, riders, and tracks from the 2000 SBK season, plus improved handling, dramatically realistic crashes, and in-depth telemetry and bike setup for the expert Superbike racer, Superbike 2001 is set to strengthen its hold as the best game of its type. Setup features including rake, trail, 8 suspension settings, gear ratios, front and rear tire compounds, and the ability to save and load settings.

Superbike 2000 supported EAX and A3D according to one interview so good chance Superbike 2001 supports 3D sound. You can grab the demo from 3dfiles.

No 3D sound in F1 World Grand Prix - Mikael @ 22:58 EST

We mentioned earlier that one review had made a comment about the sound that indicated 3D sound while another said there was no such support. I've not got a confirmation from Eidos that F1 World Grand Prix does NOT support 3D sound.

Submarine Titans Map - Mikael @ 13:23 EST

Ellipse Studios has released a new multiplayer map for its 3D sound supporting Submarine Titans. They release a new map every Monday
News Source: Blue's News

New AW744 drivers released - Mikael @ 13:00 EST

AOpen has released new (v2018) Win9x drivers for their YMF744 based AW744 cards. It will most likely work with other YMF744 based cards as well. Compared to the previous version we have tested (v2013) these drivers come with new Sensaura files (crlds3d.vxd=v1035 and crlds3d.dll=v2000). These are almost the same version that ships with the Santa Cruz and Sonic Fury. The difference is that the Santa Cruz/Sonic Fury ships with (dll=v2001 and vxd=1035 release candidate 3). The release candidate 3 was shipped by mistake and it has significant issues in all EAX 2.0 games we have tried so far. I have no idea how all other reviews could have missed this, especially Gamecenter that claimed they tried SoF, though perhaps not in 3D sound mode. Turtle Beach will release new drivers fixing this issue soon (this week).

I have not tried the new 2018 drivers so not sure what other changes they include.
News Source: Our Forum

Speaker Specs Guide - Mikael @ 12:38 EST

Anandtech has posted an article they call Speakers Buyer's Guide but it's more a Speaker Specs Guide. That is, it explains what the specs mean. While it can be interesting to know what the specs mean, it's almost pointless to use published specs alone as guide to what speakers you should buy. Now measured specs by a magazine or website are much more useful. We hope to start offering that in our reviews later this year, beyond the basic sound level numbers we use now.

For the most part the article is very good. However, at the end when they explain the different surround standards they have a few errors. It's mostly that they mix up the APIs with the sound engines, perhaps to simplify it a bit, but the result is misleading. It's for example not true that EAX is specifically designed for 4-speakers or that A3D 1.0 only supports 2-speakers and headphones. EAX isn't even positioning sound in 3D space, it's adding reverb to the sound and the positioning is done with DS3D. You can check out our EAX 1.0 and DS3D vs A3D 1.X article for a bit more in depth explanation of these APIs and how they work.

One other thing worth noting is that their description of THD would make you think 0.1% THD would be noticeable but that's not the case. Most people will be perfectly happy with a THD of 4% or more except if they just listen to test tones. You can check out the PCABX.com site for some listening tests with 1%, 10% and 30% THD applied to a piano recording.

Finally I would point out that I don't agree that lower powered surround channels are a good idea for movies using Dolby Digital 5.1 and especially not in case of games. If you are on a tight budget and mostly care about good music quality it may be worth it to spend less on the surround speakers but it's not ideal.

Artec I-Jungle Portable MP3 Player Review - Mikael @ 09:48 EST

Neoseeker has posted a detailed review of the Artec I-Jungle Portable MP3 Player. It's a very slim and light (8.7 mm thick and weights 57g) MP3 player with only basic features and no options to upgrade the memory. It can come with 48-96MB built in memory, has a small non back lit LCD display (doesn't display the track name only number) and offers 3 very subtle EQ presets. It also lacks an USB interface and instead use the much slower parallelport. When it comes to audio quality the Neoseeker was very impressed with its clarity and superb stereo separation. In the end he thinks it's a pretty good player but complains about the lack of seek feature (can’t zip through to different parts of a song), no USB interface, LCD display doesn't display track name only the number and most importantly the player resets its settings when you turn it off.
News Source: 3DAI

New m3po firmware - Mikael @ 09:07 EST

Terratec has released a new Firmware update (V2.10) for their MP3 player, m3po.

SoundMan SR-30 review - Mikael @ 08:56 EST

nvNews.net has posted a review of Logitech's new SR-30 system. It's a $80 4.1 system. I don't share their impression that reviews have been mostly negative of the ACS54, FPS100 and FPS2000 and I wouldn't refer to the FPS2000 as first generation. The $80 price is cheap but still more than the ACS54 and FPS1000. The reviewer found the speaker to be quite good competing head to head with the FPS2000 and crushing the ACS54. He doesn't give any reasons for why he thinks it crushes the ACS54 which I consider to be pretty close to the FPS2000, especially the satellites. Thanks to Kris Kohagura for the pointer.

New interview @ EAX.Creative.com - Mikael @ 05:10 EST

Creative's EAX site has posted a new interview, this time with Firetoad Software's Lead Programmer Nathan d'Obrenan. He is currently working on Everglade Rush, a hovercraft racing game, which of course will support EAX. Here's an interesting bit:

What would you like to see in hardware over the next couple of years? What would you like to see in soundcards next?

Per-pixel-everything, visually wise, is the definite big thing that will make games mucho real.

Soundcards need to have an MP3 decompressor built into the card and into a standard audio API (application programming interface). If there could be some form of standardized MP3 code, (we should) open source it, have an ARB (Architecture Review Board) like OpenGL does, then have all the IHVs (independent hardware vendors) write their extensions based off of that code. That would be a real smart move.

I'm sick of games using .wav (files), either for sound effects or music. MP3s are good but I think that most game developers are wary of them because of their processor time - just look at how much resource Winamp takes up! Thus there are not as many games with MP3 support as there should be. Games could have bigger soundtracks than movies, and if we had a hardware solution, we could stream those soundtracks in the game. Whether it should be integrated with DirectSound, I'm unsure. Possibly as an extension to DirectSound? But someone needs to show some initiative to standardize MP3 playing - they certainly aren't going away!

Digital-NX/4DWave Windows 2000 drivers released - Mikael @ 05:01 EST

Hoontech has released a beta version of the Windows 2000 drivers for their Digital-NX. The Digital-NX uses the 4DWave-NX chip so the drivers may also work with other cards using this chip or 4DWave-DX. Now it's less likely than usual since it's Hoontech that developed the drivers and not just done a slight modification of a reference driver release. As you may know Trident has left the PC sound chip market and discontinued their Windows2000 driver development. I think Hoontech managed to get the source and has since then tried to finish the drivers. I have not tried the drivers so no idea what features are supported.

News from September 4-10, 2000

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